STEVEN TYLER – We’re All Somebody From Somewhere (2016)
“Country music is the new rock & roll,” proclaims STEVEN TYLER in a press release for his new, and first, solo album, the inclusively titled “We’re All Somebody From Somewhere“. Well, I do not agree, and fortunately we have some rock moments in the record, while the country-flavored are not bad at all.
Indeed there’s something for everyone – the die-hard Aerosmith fan, the adventurous Tyler fan and the fan fearing the worst.
If you’re looking for a hint of the cheeky lustfulness that powered Aerosmith’s best early songs, head straight for the title track. There’s also a slow-burn take on the band’s 1989 hit “Janie’s Got a Gun,” which emphasizes the song’s notoriously dark subject matter.
And “Only Heaven” gamely attempts to revive Aerosmith’s power-ballad prowess from the same era, and quite succeed.
Too often, though, We’re All Somebody From Somewhere stumbles over Nashville’s worst impulses, trading Tyler’s considerable strengths for a down-home – occasionally even corn-pone – earnestness.
Songs like “Somebody New,” “Red, White and You” and “Sweet Louisiana,” alternatively defined by heartland instrumentation and truck-commercial sentimentality, only serve to file down all of Tyler’s edges.
The cover of “Piece of My Heart” (made famous by Janis Joplin) works nicely, but, once again, the setting seems to push Tyler into a gravely sincere approach that drains all the drama from the song.
It’s not that We’re All Somebody From Somewhere isn’t well presented. After all, Tyler is surrounded by seasoned vets like T Bone Burnett, master Dann Huff, the Cadillac Three’s Jaren Johnston and longtime collaborator Marti Frederiksen.
It’s just that, for most of this often over-serious project, you find yourself restlessly waiting for his deliriously uninhibited character to break free. Few are the songs that wouldn’t have been improved by even one of his hiccuping, oversexed yowls.
As such, Tyler is at his best here when he focuses on blending those two impulses, adding a rootsy undertow to the familiar Aerosmith sound. “My Own Worst Enemy,” the album’s episodic opener, is perhaps the perfect example.
He also unleashes a thunderous, blues-drenched performance on the harp during the Jeff Beck-ish “Hold On (Don’t Let Go).” The former — which includes the lyric, “I could blame Jesus, I could blame Momma, I could blame Brahma for all the bull that’s in my head” — shows Tyler has lost none of his way with a winking lyric either.
It’s a fine line to walk though, perhaps especially for someone in velvet boots.
01 – My Own Worst Enemy
02 – We’re All Somebody From Somewhere
03 – Hold On (Wont Let Go)
04 – It Ain’t Easy
05 – Love Is Your Name
06 – I Make My Own Sunshine
07 – Gypsy Girl
08 – Somebody New
09 – Only Heaven
10 – The Good, The Bad, The Ugly And Me
11 – RED, WHITE And YOU
12 – Sweet Louisiana
13 – What Am I Doin’ Right?
14 – Janie’s Got A Gun
15 – Piece Of My Heart (feat. The Loving Mary Band)
PRE ORDER
www.amazon.com/Were-Somebody-Somewhere-Steven-Tyler
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